Developmental Disabilities Awareness Day was held recently on February 11. Hundreds of disability advocates came to the Capitol in Tallahassee to talk with legislators about issues facing Floridians with disabilities. APD joined dozens of disability organizations at the Capitol sharing information about their programs.Click Here for a video from the rallyClick Here to view the proclamation

Save the Date - ADA Celebration

On Friday, July 24, the Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) will be celebrating 30 years of the American with Disabilities Act. The event will be held at Downtown Tallahassee from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. EDT in the morning. Be sure to save the date!

APD is enhancing the Questionnaire for Situational Information (QSI); it will be called the Next Generation QSI (NG-QSI). During the next several months, APD will be conducting field tests on the new protocol. In addition, FSU will be conducting a reliability validity on the data obtained. Based upon the results of the study, refinement of the protocol may be made. APD will hold a series of stakeholder meetings to present the study results. In addition, a replication study will be conducted to further review and confirm that the NG-QSI serves its five purposes:

Identify support needs

Assess and promote social integration

Provide an alert component to help identify concerns to address

Help with allocating resources to meet support needs

Assist with statewide trend analysis and planning

The agency’s goal is to begin using the NG-QSI for everyone in 2021.

Be sure to visit the Bright Expectations website. The site is dedicated to provide resources and information on several developmental disabilities. Pregnant women, health care providers, and families can learn how to help individuals with developmental disabilities through evaluations and intervention services.

The Disability and Health Program (DHP) is funded by a five-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The goals of the program are to include Floridians of all ages with disabilities in all the Department of Health’s programs and activities for health promotion, disease prevention, wellness, and disaster preparedness. The DHP also works with individuals with disabilities, their families, their health care providers, other state agencies, and interested stakeholders to meet its goals. Learn More Here...

Home Care Rule Update - The federal Department of Labor adopted the Home Care Rule extending minimum wage and overtime protections to most home care workers. The Agency for Persons with Disabilities (APD) is responsible for having a process available for any person whose service hours would be reduced as a result of the rule and is at risk of institutionalization. Waiver Support Coordinators must notify APD immediately if they encounter a customer whose service needs are not being met. As part of this process, APD will determine if there are other waiver services which would help the individual remain in the community. APD will continue to monitor this process to ensure that our customers are receiving the care they need.

The legislature will determine if rates will change for the types of services affected by the DOL rule. To learn more visit the DOL website at: //www.dol.gov/whd/homecare.

If you are an active duty military service member and are interested to learn more about applying for services, please read this PDF for more information on how to apply.

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